Jan. 28, 2004

MILWAUKEE -

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Leathernecks, Here We Come
The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee men and women's swimming and diving program will take their show on the road for Saturday, January 31, 2004. The squad will head to Macomb, Ill. to compete in a dual meet Saturday Afternoon against the Western Illinois University Leathernecks.

This is the first dual meet the Panthers will be competing in since they hosted a double-dual meet on Nov. 8, 2003. The women ended that day with a 3-0 record with victories coming against Illinois-Chicago, Northern Iowa and Evansville. The men finished up that same meet with a 1-1 record with their win coming against Evansville and falling to Illinois-Chicago. The Panthers enter Saturday's dual meet after placing first (women) and second (men) in the 8th annual Bill Ritter Memorial Invitational this past weekend at the Klotsche Center.

Panthers Claim Top Two Spots at Bill Ritter Memorial Invitational
The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee men and women's swimming program entered the second session of the Bill Ritter Memorial Invitational in second-place after a good showing in the first session on Friday night. When the morning session ended, the Panther women found themselves in second and just nine points behind UW-Green Bay while the Panther men find themselves 53 points outside of first trailing UIC and UW-Green Bay. To close out the meet victorious, the UWM men and women knew that they would have to place high in every event and that isn't easy to do. The women used every resource necessary edge out UW-Green Bay. By tallying 974 points, UWM edged out UW-Green Bay and its 972 points for the win. The Panther men were in for a much more difficult task with having to overcome the morning's point deficit, but also having to face down the depth of UW-Green Bay's roster. The Panther men gave it there all throughout the final session, but came away in second (1,003 pts.) behind UW-Green Bay (1,043 pts.)

The first-place Panther women relied on a total team effort to claim the victory in the final session of the meet. Freshman Lindsay Caldwell swam to another first-place victory, this time in the 100-yard freestyle event with a time of 53.69. Caldwell already had one win under her cap during the morning session when she won the 100-breaststroke in record-breaking fashion. Caldwell also team up with Heather Sawatzki, Bridget Fargen and Jen Kedinger to claim the victory in the 400-freestyle relay with a winning time of 3:38.01. Pushing the team over the top was a second and third-place finish in the mile by Jen Kedinger and Amanda Schmitt. Kedinger and Schmitt swam times of 18:03.67 and 18:03.92, respectively, to add 33 more team points to the Panthers' win.

Besides the performances by Caldwell, the Panthers also received a strong final session from Emily Holcomb, Patricia Frank, Sarah Caldwell, Danielle Bradley, Kari Kinney and Sawatzki. Holcomb and Frank placed third and fourth in the 200-yard backstroke with times of 2:11.95 and 2:13.28. Sarah Caldwell and Bradley added another set third and fourth-place finishes in the 200-yard breaststroke while Kinney and Sawatzki capped it all off with their third and fourth-place finishes in the 200-yard butterfly.

The men entered the evening session down 53 points, but gave their all to overcome it. Ryan Frohmader started the session with a victory in the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 1:57.50. Frohmader used and needed every single stroke as he pulled out the victory on the final touch by .14. Justin O'Keefe followed Frohmader with a third-place finish in the event with a time of 1:59.72. From there, Josh Baseheart added a first-place finish in the 100-yard freestyle with a winning time of 45.62. After Basehearts win, the Panther men were tied for the lead with 802 points. However, second-place finishes in the 200 breaststroke by Kyle Fyock and in the 400-yard freestyle relay weren't enough to propel the Panthers to a victory.

"This was an exciting meet and having it come down to the final event made it all the more exciting," Panther head coach Dave Clark. "It's a rarity that the meet comes down to what the milers will do, but it made for an exciting atmosphere. I was pleased with how both our teams finished the meet off."

Business As Usual
The UWM Panther divers have been quietly going about their business in the last couple of months. It's almost as if they've fallen off the radar screen. However, it's just business as usual for the Panther divers in that they just keep quietly taking care of business. After competing in the Notre Dame Diving Invitational on Dec. 4-6, 2003, the divers caravaned to Florida with the swimmers for a winter training session. After what seemed to be a long layover of major competition, the high-flyers returned fresh and strong to compete in the diving portion of the Bill Ritter Memorial Invitational.

Sophomore Jeff Jasinowski scored two second-place finishes during the competition. Jasinowski scored 230.80 points on the 1-meter board and tallied another 387.00 points on the 3-meter board. Freshmen Joel Mauer and Corey Kupfer also added points on the 1-meter and 3-meter boards. Mauer placed sixth with 205.45 points on the 1-meter board and added an eighth-place finish while Kupfer finished seventh on the 3-meter board.

Senior co-captain Becky Rubel led the way for the women divers by placing second on the 3-meter board with a score of 397.30 and third on the 1-meter board by tallying 216.30 points. Senior Hannah Burgard added a fourth-place finish on the 1-meter board while Erin Blemberg finished sixth and placed fourth on the 3-meter board with 392.00 points. Crystal Szymanski placed seventh for the Panthers on the 3-meter board with 361.80 points.

"Our divers really push each other," Head coach Dave Clark said. "All of them are strong and each makes a case at every meet to be the top diver."

Diving In
Jeff Jasinowski won the Diver of the Year award after finishing seventh on both 1m and 3m at the league championships, despite missing a good portion of the season due to injury. He is back to lead a strong group of divers in 2003-04. Hannah Burgard was named Diver of the Year for the women after picking up a pair of top-three finishes at the league championships. Burgard was third on 1m and second on 3m, the highest finishes by a Panther diver at the meet.

Last Year At The Championships
The UWM men finished fourth at last year's Horizon League Championships in Cleveland, while the UWM women claimed a 3rd-place finish. At the championships, five school records, two freshman records and one Horizon League record were set by the Panthers. The Panthers lose just seven seniors from the two squads that competed at the championships a year ago.

Smart Kids
Three Panthers were named Academic All-District last season by the College Sports Information Directors of America. Peter Clark, who completed his eligibility last season, was joined by senior Josh Baseheart and Sarah Caldwell on the team. The only other Panther recognized with this distinction is now-assistant coach Heather Czappa, who was academic all-district in 1999.

Academics Are A Team Effort
The UWM men and women's swimming and diving teams were named Academic All-American by the College Swim Coaches Association of America this past spring. This marks the 29th-consecutive semester the women's team has made the list, while the men's team made the list for the fourth-straight semester. The women's team finished the spring semester with a cumulative grade point average of 3.021, placing them 60th in Division I. UIC and Wright State also made the list out of the Horizon League. The men's team tied with Alabama for 15th among all Division I schools, posting a grade point average of 3.083.

Up Next
The Panthers will head to Madison for a double dual on Friday, Feb. 6, 2004. UWM will be competing in a double-dual meet against Wisconsin and UW-Green Bay. The meet will start at 5 p.m. and will be held at the UW Natatorium.